I adore doing classic adaptations, but I also feel their frustrations and their limitations.
Whatever there be of progress in life comes not through adaptation but through daring.
Because of my medical and ideological training, I am accustomed to saying that life is adaptation and symbiosis.
To me, the ultimate crime in an adaptation is the crime of reverence. A novel is one form of media, a screenplay is another, and a movie is yet another. There’s even reverence to a screenplay.
I’ve made seventeen or eighteen films now, only two of which have been original screenplays, all the others have been based on short stories or novels, and I find the long short story ideal for adaptation.
After I sold my screenplay adaptation of ‘Rain Fall’ to Sony Pictures, I had no more creative involvement.
While not my personal favorite of the Disney princess films, ‘The Little Mermaid’ wins hands-down in my book for best Disney adaptation. Little girls waited for more than 150 years for Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ to have a happy ending. Walt Disney finally gave it to her.
In the game of life, less diversity means fewer options for change. Wild or domesticated, panda or pea, adaptation is the requirement for survival.
Based on a taut screenplay by Nabendu Ghosh, ‘Do Anjane’ was a Hindi adaptation of Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s famous Bengali novel, ‘Ratrir Yatri.’ It was my first chance to rub shoulders with the immensely talented Amitabh Bachchan and we went on to become a super hit pair.
They give me the money, I give them the book. Having input into the adaptation would be kind of like selling a house and coming back three years later and saying, ‘Paint it this color!’
Why did I choose Arsenal rather than Chelsea? Because it is a club I love, and I thought it would be easier for my adaptation.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ appeared to highly favorable reviews and quickly climbed to the top of bestseller lists, where it remained for more than eighty weeks. In 1961, the novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. A film adaptation was released in 1962, starring Gregory Peck, and received three Academy Awards.
When you talk to crews that went to Mir or have gone up to International Space Station, they say that you go through different phases of adaptation or getting used to the space environment.
We have good examples of successful adaptation to rising sea levels. The Netherlands became a wealthy nation despite having one-third of its landmass below sea level, including areas a full 7m below sea level, as a result of the gradual sinking of its landscapes.
Whilst the developed world may say it wants to see much greater commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this may only be politically feasible if there is strong support for adaptation measures in those countries at greatest immediate risk.
Honestly, I actually would really love to see more musical theatre actors do the movie adaptations of shows – I think that would be really great to see.
Interestingly, I never thought I’d do an adaptation. I’ve also been quite against them. I think trying to translate one medium to another is wrong. I never really felt that books fitted into film. Generally people are disappointed, aren’t they?
